Sunday, November 20, 2011

Adventures in Shop Hopping

A couple of weekends ago I went with three fellow-Philly Modern Quilt Guild members on my first ever shop hop - the 2011 Fall Fabric Frenzy. We had a blast. We hit seven stores on Saturday. Whew! We left at 9:30 am and returned at 6:30 pm, with two short pit stops for food. For me, the time just flew. Shop hopping with friends is the way to go! Near the end, we didn't even know what town we were in. Andrew (who was kind enough to chauffeur us three ladies around) just put all the addresses in his GPS and off we went. We hit the last shop with just moments to spare, as all the stores closed at 5pm on Saturday.

I didn't go overboard, but did get some things I had been wanting. There was only one store where none of us bought anything.

I have been itching to try the Fit to Be Geese ruler and found it at one of the later shops, along with some citrus Best Press that I couldn't pass up. Since I love my Angler, which is the original plastic that you have to tape on your machine bed, I picked up the new cling version - Clearly Perfect Angles....

I didn't think I'd find the new Quilts and More, since it wasn't scheduled to come out until later in the week, but I did!

In one shop, nothing much was doing it for me, but they did have a nice charm pack selection so I picked up a couple of Sugar Pop charm packs...

I picked up these Fig Tree FQs to add to my collection at another stop...

At Generations Quilt Shop (hands down my favorite of the day), there was so much I wanted I didn't know what to get, so settled for this FQ bundle and stripe for the binding. A cute quilt made of this was on the wall and I decided I'd love to make it...

This little kit is for some pretty Christmas placements that I thought would look great on my dining room table...

That was the haul from Saturday. I still had two more shops to hit though, so on Sunday I went to the Byrne Sewing Connection, which is near my house, and got fellow-guild member Jessica Levitt's new book Modern Mix - there are a slew of projects I want to make from this book!

Then on Monday, I hit my last stop - Granny's Sewing Den, which is near my office. I think I was shopped out by then. I only got some snaps. Not even worth showing a photo of - LOL.

So, my first shop hop was a success. Will I do it again? I'm not sure - definitely not by myself. For me the day more about hanging out with quilting buddies all day than shopping - and that was worth every mile traveled!

7 comments:

Wow, you made some great purchases! I'd say it was quite a success. I have only done one shop hop...16 shops in one day! The farthest drive was a little over 100 miles, so we started there, and worked our way back. Was it worth it??? Welll, let's just say I wouldn't do it again. All I had to show for it at the end of the day after all those shops, was 3 fat quarters that I picked up in a beautiful shop set up in a house well over 100 years old. Different fabric collections set up each in their own room, same with books and patterns, but we just couldn't stop long enough to explore. I won't do it again unless we can go at a little slower pace and really enjoy the day. I'm so glad yours was a good experience. Hugs...

Wow, you ladies were moving!! I did 10 shops in two days last year, starting in Chestnut Hill after work on Friday and ending in King of Prussia just before the store closed that evening. The next day I started out in Delaware and finished up in Phoenixville. I was exhausted, but I still managed to find the pattern and fabric for the quilt I made my son for Christmas and make the top in time to get it to the longarm quilter on Sunday. Probably the reason I bought the passport, but didn't do the hop this year!